NDMA, UN inks LoA for gender equality, women empowerment

ISLAMABAD, June 21 (APP): The National Disaster Management
Authority (NDMA) has signed a Letter of Agreement (LoA) with
the United Nations to help strengthen responses with focus on women
and issues faced by them during and post disasters.

The agreement signed by Chairman NDMA Maj Gen Asghar Nawaz,
and Deputy Representative, UN Women, Pakistan Ms. Sangeeta Thapa,
would focus gender equality and women empowerment through support from United Nations Population Fund.

Women and other vulnerable groups often have fewer resources
to protect themselves and, with children, they frequently make up
the majority of displaced persons.

There are evidences that women are better placed and envisaged to be
responsive in these situations. However, their exclusion limits their access to opportunities to recover and rebuild communities.

Within this context, it is essential to establish solid foundations
for survivor-centred response mechanisms in the Country that can be adapted in both emergency and normal settings, said a press release.

The Gender and Child Cell (GCC) of the NDMA will be playing
an active role towards this direction which includes the development
of education sector training material, capacity building of key
stakeholders, policy guidance for risk mitigation, prevention and
response to Gender Based Violence (GBV) in humanitarian programming.

The partnership will contribute towards building the capacity
of the NDMA consistent with its mandate to develop guidelines and
standards to safeguard the rights and interests of vulnerable groups
during disasters.

More specifically the partnership aims to enhance the National
capacity of the NDMA to formulate, and disseminate the national
implementation of multi-sectoral policies and guidelines, and to
develop appropriate learning resource packages to guide harmonized
implementation of standard operation procedures, minimum standards
and other related guidelines as per the aims of the programme.